Due to regulations curtailing the use of aerosol dispensers for chemical reagents that discharge foaming or pressurized gases or hydrocarbons into the atmosphere, the use of spray bottles that are manually pumped has become widespread. The typical spray bottle dispenser consists of a plastic container holding fluid with chemical reagent dissolved therein, which is sealed by a threaded cap mounting a sprayhead from which a diptube projects and extends downwardly into the body of the container. When the user operates a trigger on the sprayhead, the contents are pumped up into the sprayhead and sprayed out from a directional orifice or nozzle.
Many vendors sell separately bottles of fluid for refilling the spray dispenser bottle, or for transferring the sprayhead thereto when the contents of the first-purchased dispenser bottle are used up, so that the sprayhead and bottle can be reused. Often, the refill bottles contain a large volume of fluid so that the original dispenser bottle can be refilled more than one time before another bottle needs to be purchased.
This widely used type of spray dispenser system has several problems, which the present invention seeks to lessen or eliminate. One problem is that the refill bottles take up a lot of volume, which incurs additional shipping costs, storage costs, and demand for shelf space. Another problem is that a refill bottle must be sold for the specific types of fluid it is intended to refill. Thus, if a vendor sells different formulations of the same cleaner or different types of cleaners under the same product name, then a refill bottle must be sold for each grade and type of fluid.
A further problem is that pouring fluid from the refill bottle can incur spills or require potentially hazardous handling of caustic or toxic fluids. On the other hand, if the fluids must be made in very dilute concentrations for public safety in handling, then the cleaning ability or effectiveness of the product may be compromised. The refill bottles themselves are discarded after use, thus adding to the solid waste problem.
There have been various proposals for providing a rechargeable insert holding chemical in concentrated form which can be used with a spray dispenser system. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,655,096, 3,966,089, 4,088,246, and 5,421,483 show a capsule or cartridge holding concentrated material which is secured in the neck of the bottle and released by threading the sealing cap or a ringnut against it to puncture its bottom walls against a sharp element or to squeeze the concentrate out. These types of puncturable or burstable cartridge systems are costly to fabricate, complicated to operate, and potentially hazardous if a problem occurs and the user must open the container and reposition or remove a failed cartridge.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,529,216 shows another rechargeable spray dispenser system in which an elongated insert having one or more concentrate-containing compartments is inserted into the bottle, and a sharp end of the diptube is used to puncture through upper and/or lower sealing membranes in order to release the concentrate into the diluent fluid (water) filled into the bottle. However, this type of recharge insert necessitates a sharp-pointed diptube, as opposed to blunt ended diptube and filters normally supplied. Moreover, the inner seal must be punctured by the user thereby presenting a risk that concentrate will be spilled by the user. U.S. Pat. No. 6,540,109 discloses a rechargeable spray bottle dispenser including at least one chemical reservoir received within the bottle. The reservoirs contain concentrated chemicals and can be released into the bottle by bursting, puncturing or other suitable means. This type of design requires the modification of the spray bottles at the point of manufacture and cannot be used economically on the conventional spray bottles.
Sleevelet recharger designs have been in commercial use for several years in food service establishments where refillable spray bottles are used routinely. Historically they have been recharged with liquid concentrates, as opposed to powders or tablets, dispensed from larger containers, or automatically from captive blending centers. The prior use of spray bottle refills in these establishments and their employees' training to use clearly defined systems helped to make their adaptation to the use of the instant recharge system relatively seamless. Home use of spray bottle refills, however, has never been firmly established, even though the significant cost and space-saving opportunities have been promoted and recognized.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,250,511 shows dry-to-the touch elongated inserts, which contain chemicals that can be dissolved in water for cleaning purposes. These inserts are slipped onto the diptube of a spray bottle trigger, which incorporates a retainer device at the bottom of the diptube, which facilitates removal of the wet sleeve after activation. Another retainer design is described in U.S. application Ser. No. 10/934,960 filed Sep. 7, 2004. All of the foregoing patents and applications are incorporated herein by reference.
The technology disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,250,511 has been in commercial use for over two years in food service establishments where refillable spray bottles have been used routinely for many years. Historically they have been recharged with liquid concentrates, as opposed to powders or tablets, dispensed from larger containers, or automatically from captive blending centers. The preference for use of the recharge system was driven by its demonstrated ability to reduce both shipping and inventory costs by over 90%.
Although the prior use of spray bottle refills in these establishments and their employees' training to use clearly defined systems helped to make their adaptation to the use of the instant recharge system relatively seamless, home use of spray bottle refills has never been established, even though the significant cost and space-saving opportunities have been promoted and recognized.
Extensive consumer research has indicated that broad scale home use of the spray bottle recharge system of the invention would be encouraged if its actual use could be simplified, and if its potential economies in terms of cost and space, and in terms of its potential to significantly reduce solid waste disposal were actively promoted. The refinements and improvements of the original recharge technology, as described herein, are intended to make that possible.
The aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 6,250,511 and prior application Ser. No. 10/934,960 describe recharge sleevelet devices comprised of non-woven fibrous materials impregnated with cleaning, sanitizing, disinfecting and other liquid concentrates that are specially designed and constructed to fit onto the diptubes of standard spray bottle assemblies.
Whereas these sleevelet devices are designed for use with standard sprayer systems in use worldwide, there are significant disadvantages that add cost, require customized super-concentrates due to the limited loading capacity of the nonwoven sleeves, involve potentially confusing methods for activating and inactivating the system, and require special components (e.g. retainers, etc.) which otherwise may not be needed. Because these sleevelets must be sized and shaped to slip on and off the diptubes and to fit into and be removable from standard spray bottle openings of approximately 1 inch in diameter, dedicated custom designed and engineered technology is needed to seal the nonwoven sleeves, and to precisely control concentrate loading at acceptable production speeds and costs. The specially designed and custom molded retainer that is attached to the tip of the diptube is also needed to safely extract the impregnated sleeve from its packaging, to place it into the spray bottle, and to extract the activated sleeve from the spray bottle.
The recharging system described herein avoids the foregoing pitfalls and provides advantages and improvements as will be seen in further detail below.
The present inventive concept will overcome these disadvantages, add beneficial capabilities and significantly simplify usage of the system. It is facilitated by the availability of wide-mouthed bottles with screw threads and an opening of at least two inches. Additionally, squeeze bottles of this type are available in convenient 16, 24 and 32 ounce sizes. These can be fitted with a custom molded closure that can accommodate standard screw-cap pump sprayer devices. In this case, the pump sprayer is screwed onto an adaptor, which in turn is screwed onto the top of the wide-mouthed bottle, as will be seen in the devices described below. Another wide-mouthed spray bottle design has been described in U.S. Pat. Appln. Publication No. 2009/0050640 utilizing a custom designed spray nozzle assembly that is attachable to the outer wall of the cylindrical container.